Watch this video by CRAVE wellness guru Jamie Living.

Follow Jamie on Facebook and Twitter.

Last night, we had the pleasure of meeting Grace Bonney from the design blog Design*Sponge at the Seattle book launch for her new book, Design*Sponge at Home.

On a daily basis, Design*Sponge demonstrates the importance of visual design in all aspects of life. From interior design and flower arrangements to web and packaging design, Grace’s blog has been a guiding light for thousands all over the world. She also has a popular column called Biz Ladies, which addresses just about every topic you can imagine that has to do with running any kind of business!

Design*Sponge at Home, includes 70 home tours, 50 DIY projects, step-by-step DIY basics tutorials, 50 before & after makeovers submitted by readers of Design*Sponge, and essential tips on modern flower arranging, with 20 arrangements.

Throughout the years, Grace has been a huge inspiration for many members of the CRAVE team. Not only is she stylish, thrifty, imaginative and smart, she is humble about her successes and extremely down to earth. Meeting Grace—if only for a minute!—was an absolute dream.

Buy the book on Amazon, or click here for a full list of stores.

As a business owner I know you are working very hard in your business, serving clients and staying on top over everything else that needs to be managed.

But what if all the hard work you are currently doing is not necessarily the most effective way to grow your business?

A solid business is built around a business model that works. If you think you have a great business model in place then it will only take a few minutes to confirm that this is the case.

If you aren’t quite sure if your business model is functioning optimally, now is the perfect time to give it a quick check-up and find out.

When I talk about your business model I simply mean the way your business makes money. Think about these basic components:

* Your business offer products and services

* You sell them for a certain price

* A certain number of people buy them (once or even better, repeatedly)

* You deliver them in a certain way (in person, electronically, third party, etc.)

Why not revisit your business model to see if there are a few ways you can change it. This doesn’t have to be complicated, simply take a piece of paper and a pen or open a new file on your computer.

Write down all the products and services your business currently offers, the price for each, how many clients you have who purchase each offer and how frequently. Total this up, subtract your costs, and see if this structure is going to bring you the financial results you want.

Now imagine how many different ways you can upgrade your business model to attract more business and leverage what you already have.

Get creative and try out several combinations of products and services. Here are some ideas:

- Perhaps you can add something new, additional revenue streams.

- You can also think about increasing the amount of what you already deliver.

- Or maybe at this point it’s even best to remove a part that isn’t profitable.

- Consider changing the way you deliver your products and services.

- What if you didn’t change a thing except to increase the prices (speaking or pricing, when is that last time you increased the prices for your products and services)?

Let’s use the business model of a consultant as an example.

CURRENT BUSINESS MODEL

Product/Service: Consulting services delivered by the consultant alone

Price: Per hour

Clients: One at a time full time or two to three part-time

Delivery: In person

UPDATED BUSINESS MODEL

Product/Service: Consulting in person delivered by the consultant, additional consultants working for you, speaking, selling intellectual property (an ebook, audio, or other information product)

Price: Consulting per project (and part of the fee for consultants working on behalf of the consultant), speaking per event, intellectual property per item

Clients: Many at one time

Delivery: In person, automated (via the internet)

Are you starting to see the possibilities for your business? Renewing your business model can re-inspire your enthusiasm for what you do as well as increase your desire for marketing your business.

A healthy business model is the foundation for a successful business. Take time to examine your business model and make sure it is the strongest it can be.

With a few simple changes, you will probably make more money and you may even find that you don’t have to work as hard to do so. Now who doesn’t want that!

Stephanie Ward is the Marketing Coach for Entrepreneurs who want to set their profits on fire! Grab your FREE copy of the special report ’7 Steps to Attract More Clients in Less Time’ plus business building tips, at: fireflycoaching.com.

August is here and this month we’re all about our new theme, Put A Twi$t On It! No matter what your business is – a bakery, a marketing firm, an online boutique – we bet that there’s a plethora of add-on sales you could be doing right now to boost your business, increase your profits and make your customers happy. Use your imagination – what kind of package deals could you offer? What little Twi$t could you put on your services? You already have a target market… what more can you offer them that you know they’ll buy?

We’re excited to get ideas and inspiration flowing! Share with us your stories and ideas of how you can Put A Twi$t On It!

CRAVE founder Melody Biringer sat down with Michelle Ward from WhenIGrowUp.com to talk hitting a nerve! We should warn you that this video is jam packed with useful information, so grab a pen and paper and get ready to learn the secrets to hitting that nerve!

You have a fabulous product or service and you know it – people have even told you so. So why aren’t you out there in the world claiming your space????

Ladies, ladies, ladies – enough showing humility and being humble. The time is NOW to be that magnificent entrepreneur.
Being magnificent means being your authentic self with your quality products or service and sharing this authenticity with everyone around you. It is time to re-group and focus on getting your self out there in a big way.

Use these three tips to catapult yourself into greatness.

1. It all begins with Clarity. Being clear with what you are offering and who you are offering it to. Crave blogger Stephanie Ward speaks about attaining that clarity, so have a peep at the great information that she shares.

2. Re-check your mindset and attitude. It needs to positive and ambitious. The beliefs you put in your mind create the actions that you ultimately you. For example, if you tell yourself that you are just okay, you will be just that – okay. What you think about, you will become. Start telling yourself how valuable you and your services are and let your positive attitude and outlook radiate in every facet of your business.

3. Marketing strategy mix up. Take a critical look at your marketing strategy and make an intentional effort to change one thing that you are doing. Unless your marketing strategy is allowing you to rake in your desired income, you need to start doing something differently. Take yourself totally outside of your comfy zone, incorporate a marketing strategy that makes you feel a bit uncomfortable. Don’t think too hard and talk yourself out of it – Just do it! Here are some words that help to re-ignite my fire when I am becoming a bit too comfortable:

“The only way of finding the limits of the possible is by going beyond them into the impossible.”
Arthur C. Clarke

Karen Donaldson is a Motivational Keynote Speaker, Public Speaking and Presentation skills coach and Founder of Karen Donaldson Inc and Panache Life Inc. She has helped numerous executives and entrepreneurs become confident, clear and engaging communicators and has shown employees and teams how to outperform in everything that they do. Visit Karen at www.karendonaldsoninc.com.

After having no idea what I wanted to be when I “grew up” I ended up getting a BAH in Criminal Justice by 21, simultaneously working retail jobs and having no major thought to the direction I wanted to go in my life. I knew a few things about myself:

1. I was really good at sales. It didn’t matter what I was selling (at the time, I was selling skateboards).
2. I had the gift of gab, and was thus a networking master.
3. I loved new things, and got bored very quickly of working in the same place for too long.
4. I didn’t like being micro-managed.

My parents were always extremely concerned with my job turnover rate. It seemed as though whenever I had worked at a store for 6 months, was exceeding at sales, and was being valued by management or owners, I left. I became manager at my first retail location. I dove right into my work – I went above and beyond. I created events, managed social media, changed store operations, hired staff, and created new marketing plans. I increased the store’s sales, and its’ reputation in the city. After 6 months, I found myself bored again. As you can imagine, the cycle continued for quite a bit longer, until I had my “aha!” moment.

At the last retail store I managed, I continued to exceed expectations in my position, to the point where I got asked to join the Business Improvement Area Board of the area I was working in. As it became my new project, I got excited and began to work hard on improving the BIA and businesses within the BIA’s social media. I was 23, and all the business owners were dying to get me into their store for a “Dani-makeover”. Until it hit me – why was I doing all this work for free? I had something people valued, and I wasn’t charging for it!

Starting my own social media curation company at 23, was a scary thing, but I knew I had to do it. As soon as I put the idea out there, work started coming at me from all angles, and my company was growing at an alarming rate before I knew it! I always look back at the creation of my business, and compare it to diving into a pool (I promise this is a useful analogy.) Some people check the water out with their toe before jumping in; some people check the thermometer; other people walk in slowly from the shallow end. I think the best way to become successful in business is by diving in head first, with no turning back or dabbling into other things. Know your idea, know your niche, know your target market and best of all, know yourself. If you can own your idea, learn it, and master it, there is nothing that will stop you from making an “aha!” moment, into a business success story.

Dani Gagnon is CEO of The Like Button – a social media curation company, based in Toronto, Canada. Contact: dani@thelikebutton.ca.

Jane Applegate, author and business advisor was recently in Seattle, WA. She spoke at a CRAVEchat, Applegate talked about the monthly theme “Hit a Nerve.” Her book, 201 Great Ideas for Your Small Business, is a terrific resource for learning how to hit that nerve in your business!

Jane Applegate is America’s most respected small business management expert. A popular keynote speaker and commentator, she’s author of four books on small business success, including 201 Great Ideas for Your Small Business and The Entrepreneur’s Desk Reference. The third edition of the best-selling 201 Great Ideas is available as a John Wiley trade paperback and in all eBook formats including Nook and Kindle.

Applegate is the leading small business speaker for Bloomberg Television’s Idea Exchange speaker series. In 2010, she keynoted 15 events co-sponsored by Bloomberg TV, chambers of commerce and cable operators. In 2011, she will speak at dozens of events sponsored by chambers and others including Virtual CFO.com, the National Assn. of Women Business Owners and the New York Times Small Business Summit.

She’s the founder of The Great Ideas Network, a new small business video network focused on sharing great ideas via 201greatideas.com.

Applegate contributes original articles to OpenForum.com, Cox Business, (Coxsbn.com), Montecito Bank & Trust and Pitney Bowes’ PBSmartEssentials.com.

Prior to starting her own business, she was an award-winning syndicated columnist for the Los Angeles Times. For several years, Applegate co-produced and moderated the New York Times Small Business Summit, sponsored by American Express. Applegate also created, produced and co-anchored Bloomberg Small Business for the USA Network and Entrepreneur’s Only for CNN. Her Succeeding in Small Business radio report aired on hundreds of CBS stations in the 1990s.

Applegate consults with a select group of companies serving the small business market, including Pitney Bowes, Cox Business and Montecito Bank. TAG has produced small business events for: Sprint, Merrill Lynch, MasterCard, AT&T and IBM among others.

The Applegate Group, founded in 1991, provides strategic marketing and video production services to big and small companies.

Jane Applegate creates custom presentations or can deliver one of the popular topics below:

• Revive & Thrive: Strategies for Growth
• Clear the Way to Unlimited Success: A Six Step Plan Life and Business
• Seamless Marketing: Integrating Online and Offline Strategies

These are a few questions author and business advisor Jane Applegate posed to CRAVE entreprenesses everywhere! She was recently in Seattle, WA speaking at a business chat along with CRAVE founder Melody Biringer.

Have you hit that nerve yet? Have you figured out what it is you’ve been meant to do all along with your business? Sometimes it takes time, going through trial and error and asking yourself a few important questions. See if you can answer these!

How many hours of sleep do you get at night? You can’t always think straight if you haven’t slept enough, right?

Are you really thinking about what’s working and what isn’t in your business? Don’t be afraid to reinvent your business!

With your clients and customers, how are you showing them that they are appreciated? Everyone wants to feel appreciated!

Have you invested in photography for your business? After all there is that saying, “A picture is worth a thousand words.”

How often are you taking time to just think about your business? Planning and thinking are key parts in growing your business and moving forward.

Communicating with staff and colleagues is key, how are you doing this? Scheduling regular phone calls can be helpful in having good open lines of communication.

Pay close attention to the decisions your making, what works and what doesn’t and that ah-ha moment might be closer than you think!

Do you ever make poor eating choices and immediately feel like a food failure? Do you get stressed, over-eat, feel guilty, berate yourself then start the cycle all over again? If this sounds at all familiar, it is time to hit a nerve with your inner food goddess! Each and every one of us has an inner food goddess just pleading to come out. A food goddess is a woman who loves real, whole food. She appreciates the sensuous nature of food and enjoying each meal with complete contentment (and the occasional delighted moan!). Though she adores good food she is not about stuffing herself or existing in a gluttonous state, but rather enjoys each bite for its nuance of flavor. She understands exactly what her body needs and knows exactly what type of nutritious food to put on her plate. She sounds awesome, right!?! So why is it that many of us continue to struggle with our food if we’ve got this amazing person right at our fingertips?

In our “get thin quick” society, women are often overwhelmed with the abundance of nutrition and diet information, which causes us to jump into restrictive eating regimes that garner quick and unsustainable results. We allow ourselves to get wrapped up in societal pressures and completely forget to listen to our bodies for guidance. We also struggle to reconcile the distorted body images shown on television and in movies and magazines alongside the food marketed to us. How about a Big Mac to help you into your skinny jeans? It simply does not make any sense! These are the food and body minefields we must navigate and why our inner food goddesses rarely have a chance to emerge.

Now, striking a chord with your inner food goddess is not an overnight occurrence. However, there are a few easy tips to get you started on the path:

1. Only Whole- A food goddess is all about the taste, quality and unaltered state of her food. Begin by purchasing real whole food that neither comes in a box nor was made in a manufacturing plant. If you have no idea how your food came to be (ie Cheetos and Wheat Thins) put it down and walk away. Letting go of processed foods opens up your plate and palate to a wide variety of fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, whole grains, beans and organic animal products you’ve never before experienced. The world of whole foods is truly endless and just waiting for the eager food goddess.

2. Chew- Have you ever stuffed yourself with the last 5 cookies in the house just to get rid of them? If you eat them quickly it’s almost like they never existed, right? Wrong! A food goddess acknowledges her food and never eats to make “bad” food disappear. When eating, chew 10-15 times per bite. Chewing aids digestion, which protects your food goddess tummy and increases satisfaction by making your food last longer.

3. Emergency Snacks- To think of yourself as a food goddess you must first treat yourself like one by anticipating your needs. Namely, never leave the house without food on your person. Nuts, seeds, dried fruit or vegetable sticks are a perfect grab-and-go snack that will keep you from getting hungry later in the day and making poor food decisions.

4. Choose Wisely- Just because a food goddess prefers unprocessed whole food does not mean she doesn’t indulge. Choosing indulgences wisely is not about willpower but rather exhibits the innate respect a food goddess has for her body. Stuffing herself at the dessert table only hurts her tummy and leads to a cycle of guilt. No thank you! When choosing your indulgence decide upon the item you will enjoy most and stick to it. Perhaps it’s that scoop of salted caramel ice cream, a piece of homemade holiday fudge or (if you are me!) warm walnut bread smothered in herb goat cheese. Whatever it is, eat it with slow burning satisfaction and make it last. When you fully engage with your indulgence there is simply no need for a second helping.

5. Take each meal on its own merit- Ever felt guilty over an afternoon ice cream cone and decided the day was consequently ruined and proceeded to eat everything in sight? Well, stop it! A food goddess takes each eating opportunity on its own merit. Sure, she is human and sometimes gets caught eating more chocolate than necessary but she does not allow that to tarnish the rest of her eating day. Rather than throwing the entire day out the window with one bad food choice, use your remaining meals to catch up on extra vegetables and whole foods you might have missed during your chocolate romp. Eating each meal on its own merit curbs emotional eating and silences all that ungoddess-like negative self talk.

Hitting a nerve with your inner food goddess does not happen instantly but when it does, the ah-ha moment is huge! No longer do you battle with food hang-ups but rather settle into the groove of eating well and creating confidence in your food choices. So, are you ready to strike a chord with your food, your body and your self-care? Start with these 5 easy steps and watch the goddess transformation begin!

Jamie G. Dougherty, CHHC, AADP is the Founder of JamieLiving, Health & Lifestyle Coaching that offers private and corporate nutrition coaching nationwide. She is the author of Spring Forward to the New You: 30 Delicious Recipes for a New Body and is currently enrolling fabulous women in her next Food Goddess Wellness Group. She is passionate about deliciously healthy food and specializes in helping her clients transform their lives through the power of nutrition and self-care.